IU GERIATRICS electronic news for May 2002

The IU Geriatrics Program and the IU Center for Aging Research remind you that it's not too late to submit manuscripts to JAMA and the Archives of Internal Medicine for their November 2002 theme issues on aging. Author information is available in the Archives editorial, "Aging in the 21st Century: A Call for Papers". Manuscripts received before June 1 will have the best chance of acceptance for the November theme issues.

NEW GRANTS

Director of Geriatrics Dr. Steve Counsell announces that the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awarded $350,000 to Senior Care at Wishard to expand the Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Collaborative Care for Elders (GRACE) program. The GRACE program coordinates care through a specialized geriatrics team and community services to help low-income seniors maintain health and independence. The funds will be used over two years and will allow GRACE to serve 500 of Wishard's most vulnerable older patients. GRACE is also supported as a clinical trial by the National Institute on Aging.

PUBLICATIONS

Hui SL, Perkins AJ, Zhou L, Longcope C, Econs MJ, Peacock M, McClintock C, Johnston CC Jr. Bone loss at the femoral neck in premenopausal white women: effects of weight change and sex-hormone levelsi. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002 Apr;87(4):1539-43.

Evans RB, Sedransk J, Hui SL. Modeling Rates of Bone Growth and Loss Using Order-Restricted Inference and Stochastic Change Points in Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics, Vol 5. Gatsonis C, Kass RE, Carlin B, Carriquiry A, Gelman A, Verdinelli I, West M. (Editors) 2002 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

McHorney CA, Robbins J, Lomax K, Rosenbek JC, Chignell K, Kramer AE, Bricker DE. The SWAL-QOL and SWAL-CARE outcomes tool for oropharyngeal dysphagia in adults: III. Documentation of reliability and validity. Dysphagia 2002 Spring;17(2):97-114.

Mather KF, Bakas T. Nursing assistants' perceptions of their ability to provide continence care. Geriatr Nurs 2002 Mar-Apr;23(2):76-81.

Udris EM, Au DH, McDonnell MB, Chen L, Martin DC, Tierney WM, Fihn SD. Comparing methods to identify general internal medicine patients with chronic heart failure. Am Heart J 2001; 142:1003-1009.

PRESENTATIONS

Colleen McHorney, PhD attended the invitation-only National Institute of Mental Health conference, Assessment of Depression and Anxiety in Depression Treatment Trials, on April 15th in Washington, DC. As part of a plenary session, she presented "The Role of Item Response Theory in Assessing Affective Symptoms."

Steve Counsell, MD was one of three invited speakers for a conference series entitled, "New Directions in Acute Care of the Elderly: Achieving Cost Effective Quality Care" at Jefferson Health System, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Steve's April 18th presentation was "Practical Solutions to Geriatric Acute Care."

In a Meet the Professor session, Chris Callahan, MD spoke to attendees of the 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine in Atlanta on "Sabbatical Leave: From Reverie to Reality." During the 1999-2000 academic year, Chris was a Visiting Scholar in the History and Psychopathology Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, UK.

Michael Sha, MD presented the oral vignette "An atypical cause of normal pressure hydrocephalus" at the SGIM meetings. From a blind review of the record 266 submitted vignettes, the top 75 were selected for oral presentation.

Michael Sha, MD also presented "Meta-analysis of the effect of pentoxifylline on cognition in vascular dementia" at the SGIM meeting. His poster co-author was Chris Callahan, MD.

Amna Buttar, MD presented "Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Units: Is it possible to target by reason for admission?" at SGIM. Her co-authors were Tony Perkins, MS, Steve Counsell, MD, and Robert Palmer, MD.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Michael Weiner, MD, MPH was quoted in the March 31st Indianapolis Star article "Death total from medical mistakes is a matter of dispute." Mike's comments focused on his July 2000 JAMA publication, "Deaths due to medical errors are exaggerated in Institute of Medicine Report," co-authored with Siu Hui, PhD, and Clem McDonald, MD.

Glenda Westmoreland, MD participated April 9-10 in "Enhancing Geriatric Care Through Practicing Physician Education" during the 2002 Annual Session of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine in Philadelphia. Using a "Train the Trainer" model, Glenda instructed primary care physicians about caring for older patients. These general internists develop the teaching and facilitation skills needed to conduct educational sessions on geriatrics topics with colleagues in their own communities.

Steve Counsell, MD served as Visiting Professor for the Center on Aging at University of Kansas Medical Center April 10-11 as part of their "Geriatrics for Generalists" program funded by the John A. Harford Foundation. Steve made rounds with the medical team and faculty hospitalists before speaking at their noon conference on "Improving Hospital Care for Older Adults."

Amna Buttar, MD attended the "Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Leadership" course April 14-19. The course is a training program through the Division of Public Health Practice in the Harvard School of Public Health. The program is the first academic initiative of its kind to formally link the growing field of negotiation and conflict resolution to the many issues and problems facing health care. Attendees receive individualized training in conflict analysis, interest-based negotiation, and mediation concepts, skills, and techniques.

IU Geriatrics Program faculty members showed their support by attending "Geriatrics Patients' Perspectives," an April activity of the School of Medicine's Geriatrics Student Interest Group. A panel of active older adults with medical problems provided their views on what contributes to a positive experience when they visit their physicians. Twenty medical students attended the meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The next Aging Research Work in Progress is May 28, 8-9am in VA A-4174. Michael Weiner, MD, MPH will discuss "Barriers to outpatient consultation for older adults."

James Dillon, MD and professor of medicine, will present "Management of Cardiovascular Diseases in Older Adults" at the IU Geriatrics Conference May 29, 7:30-8:30am, Wishard T2008 A&B.